Irene, the Asteroid & the Hurricane

The destructiveness of Hurricane Irene as well as flooding on the East Coast has been predicted by scientists to be intensified by the current New Moon alignment and high temperature of water in the Atlantic Ocean. This is because during both New and Full Moons, the Sun, Earth, and Moon are arranged in a straight line with the Sun and Moon heightening each other’s gravitational pull on the Earth. So Irene is at the scene in both perigee, when the Moon’s elliptical orbit brings it closest to the Earth, and the New Moon with the Moon and Sun aligned on the same side of our Earth.

Mercury just went Direct on the 26th of August after being Retrograde since the 2nd,which doesn’t mean that everything has instantly gone back to normal – such planetary transitions often correlate with intense weather changes and tend to take a few days to “even out”.

Irene is transiting the sign of Taurus

I searched for other specific signs of why this Hurricane in particular would be occurring right now, and decided to look up asteroid Irene (14) to see what she’s up to. Since the hurricane hit the east coast the asteroid Irene has been in Taurus forming a tense square with the planet Neptune in Aquarius. This Hurricane that has torn down buildings, killed several people is said to be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state of New Jersey in more than a hundred years. Meanwhile Irene the asteroid is transiting an Earth sign, Taurus who will not back down when cornered, in a stressful aspect to the Neptune, the Sea God moving Retrograde in the last degree of the air sign of Aquarius. It has been frequently noticed that as outer planets make their final passage out of a sign they have travelled in for many years, many natural disasters in relation with that planetary energy have taken place on the Earth. The overall effect of this combination of aspects involving Irene has resembled somewhat of a cosmic Bull in a Chinashop.

The asteroid Irene is also transiting between two fixed stars that are believed to have very intense and violent energies (but that is no surprise when it comes to fixed stars!) Capulus is specifically related to mass effects and particularly of the meteorological kind. It has connotations to primitive male sexual energy, while the fixed star on the other side of Irene is Caput Algol, aka the Demon Star, associated with primitive female sexual energy, mass catastrophe, hysteria, and “extreme creativity” to name a few.

The New Moon tonight is in the Earth sign Virgo, opposite of Neptune and therefore we still cannot collectively and fully see the forest for the trees. However there is a deeply healing and enlightening quality about this Moon that is available to those of us to reach for it, and reach for the stars. To read more about this New Moon see the August Forecast 2011.